“It has always fascinated me that God chose to rest. He worked six days, creating the heavens and the earth and everything that would fill them. And then he, the God who never grows weary, chose to rest. He took sabbath. Why would he do this? Why would the all-powerful God rest?”   I grew... Continue Reading

Are we pursuing our own greatness or the expansion of worship of Jesus Christ? They aren’t necessarily incompatible, but God is more interested in the latter than the former. And ultimately, if we prioritize Christ’s glory, we won’t really care in the long run how noticed, renowned, recognized, or “successful” we are personally. We’ll realize... Continue Reading

In Luke 12, we are given four examples of hypocrisy from the teaching of Jesus. All of them point back to verse 2 which says, “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” In other words, Jesus is saying that you cannot hide what is inside your... Continue Reading

Why, then, does the New Testament speak of salvation in three tenses? The answer lies in considering what happens in salvation. Initially, at the point of regeneration, our sins are forgiven— entirely and completely. We have been delivered from sin’s penalty. Through faith, we are reckoned to be righteous—as righteous as Christ is. Then, there... Continue Reading

It is hard to confess that I have not been earnest enough in praying for conversions through preaching, believing souls will be converted by preaching, and calling people to Christ when preaching.  To do this is an admission of defeat.  Spurgeon says that the Lord hides much of our fruit to keep us humble and... Continue Reading

You can monitor modesty and measure hemlines, but you cannot moderate the temperature of your child’s heart. You can eliminate songs with beats, but you cannot temper the beating of your child’s heart for artistry. You can talk about not defrauding the hearts of boys or girls, but you cannot control the trigger in their... Continue Reading

My point is simple. Evangelicalism is a tradition with attendant folkways and liturgical practices. One of the practices low-church Evangelicalism has long embraced is not participating in lenten abstention. As a traditionalist, I walk in the steps of these historical homeboys and am the richer for it.   Last spring, I wrote about my skepticism about the new found... Continue Reading

There are two kinds of existence-the uncreated Creator, and everything else, which is created. Twoism celebrates both God’s otherness in relation to the world and also explains the distinctions he placed in the creation to celebrate this Twoist reality. This is a heterocosmology, a world based on otherness and difference. These two understandings of the... Continue Reading

Is there evidence that you’re living with a separation between your spirituality and reality? However slight, this separation shouldn’t exist. So maybe you’re asking now, “What will my life look like if my spirituality begins to transform my reality?” Let me give you five signs:   If I watched a video of your everyday life... Continue Reading

It is all too easy, and amazingly common, for Christians (or non-Christians) to take the general truth that Jesus was a friend of sinners and twist it all out of biblical recognition. So “Jesus ate with sinners” becomes “Jesus loved a good party,” which becomes “Jesus was more interested in showing love than taking sides,”... Continue Reading